hack,Hack, HACK...

Hello Family and Friends,
The heat is here but the rain is not. The road construction crew are making their way down the block. They have covered about a quarter of a mile of road headed in the direction of our apartment. At the same time this is happening another road crew is tearing up the road directly in front of the church building where we work. The dust is incredible. Dale's asthma is in full swing. He now must take the highest dose of his medications. He hates taking so much. He broke down Friday and wore a face mask on our walk to work. The dust might not be as thick if they would asphalt the  road surface as the work progresses along its route.  Some shop owners attempt to make the air better by hosing the ground in front of their businesses. Unfortunately this replaces the dust with mud. I tip toe through it to avoid mud spatters on the backs of my legs.

It has been a fairly uneventful week. Monday we did have the Kohls visit us at our office. It was fun to take a break and talk about how their mission is going and what their adventures since arriving here have been. They are like us in that they use tuk tuks. They have access to a van and a driver when they travel to the Provinces. They walk a lot. They chose to walk to our building. It takes almost an hour to walk from their place to where we work. They are getting that Cambodia baked look on their faces and arms. When they left our office they said they were going to stop at USA Doughnut. They are doing great in Cambodia. We really enjoy having them here.

Wednesday we attended Zone Conference all day. The Kohls, the Rhynes, the Capeners, the Tucks and us were the Senior couples that attended. The other Senior couples attended Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was nice to meet together. Elder and Sister Wilson from the Area Presidency came to train us. They did a great job. President Moon and Sister Moon also addressed us. We were given a clean Book of Mormon to begin reading and marking with 5 colors. As we read and come upon the gospel principles faith, repentance, baptism and making and keeping covenants, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end we are to use one of the 5 colors to represent each. I have not begun doing this yet but intend to. We also are to pray to know what we need to improve upon in our lives and then record what it is and what we will do to succeed. I also "intend" to do this. My life is paved with good intentions. I just had an ah-ha moment. I think I have a procrastination problem. I  better write that one down on my "need to improve" list. I intend to do this when I finish this blog!

Thursday to avoid some of the dust we took a different route home. We came upon some children trying to pick mangoes from a tree. The tree is very tall and the children are very short.  Dale decided to help.

The tool of choice is a oval basket about the size of a Nerf football attached to the end of a very long skinny pole. The basket is enclosed except for a small opening on one side just large enough for a mango to slip in. The basket is slipped over the fruit. With a downward tug the fruit is picked from the tree and is caged in the basket. Now all that is necessary to do is lower the pole and remove the mango.

It sounds simple but it took a few tries before the mission was accomplished. All eyes were on Dale. He was not going to let a fruit get the best of him. Once he picked one he was determined to give it another try.

He made this little girl very, very happy.







Mok Sarorng, one of our PEF students gave us two free doughnut coupons to Brew House. After Dale performed his heroics in picking mangoes we stopped to get our free donuts. The Brew House deli menu looked good so we ordered sandwiches too. Yeh! I didn't have to cook dinner. I didn't have to wash dishes and soak them in bleach either. Oh happy day for me!

Friday morning my hairdryer died just as I was finishing. It scared me and I quickly unplugged it from the wall. There was a high pitched whir sound and smoky smell.  This event determined part of what we would be doing with our day. When I allow my hair to air dry the outcome is 60's Hippie hair. We also needed to take our passports to the mission home. Our visas need to be renewed by April. This is one thing I do not want to have screwed up. I intend to come home in six months. About 3:30 Friday afternoon we called for a tuk tuk . We went to the mission home and dropped off our passports. After visiting Elder Westover for a few minutes we rode the tuk tuk to Paragon (name of store) to buy a hairdryer. I purchased the same dryer as the one that broke. The first one lasted one year. The new one only needs to last 6 months. From Paragon we went to the IBC store to buy computer paper. We were near Lucky Burger so we paid our tuk tuk driver and told him we would walk home. He left and we crossed the street to get dinner. The Lucky grocery store is next door to Lucky Burger so we stopped there to picked up a few things. It was my "lucky" evening. Lucky grocery had stocked their shelf with Green Giant three bean salad. We purchased six cans. Between canned beans salad , two reams of computer paper, a hairdryer and a few other grocery items our load to carry home was hefty. I didn't care because for a second night this week I didn't have to cook or clean dishes! We were pretty sweaty by the time we arrived at our apartment.

The good news for the evening  was no cooking and washing dishes. The bad news is that it was laundry night. One of the machines I used decided to be difficult. As a result I rewashed a few things by hand. It was back to "LOUNDRY" again.

Friday evening the road crew outside our work place set up a camp. They created a lean to by using the trees and the church fence to attach their tarps. The church fence also serves as a clothes line and tool rack. This would not happen in the USA.

Saturday morning when we walked by the camp at 6:15 in the morning the workers were waking up and preparing for a new day. Some were dressed and a few were in their boxer briefs smoking cigarettes and preparing their breakfasts. We were surprised to see them cooking with a propane stove. We usually see open fire cooking. Some workers slept in hammocks and others on the ground. Basically a small work crew village has settled outside our workplace. We saw no portable potties so we are not sure exactly what they are using. Having walked the streets of Phnom Penh for about a year I really do not want to know their plan.  I personally would avoid spreading out a blanket to have a picnic on the lawn outside our building fence though.  The church is gated and guarded so using the church building facilities is not happening.  Their was lots of water off to the side of their tent. I figure they have rigged up some kind of hose for showers,etc.

We caught this guy hard at work. He has it pretty good. The cab seat actually has some padding and it's roof is relief from the sun. Yeah, there is some relief but it is still HOT even in the shade. If  I had to be exposed to the heat all day I would sleep too. It's called slow cooking.



Saturday we left work about 1:00. The temperature outside was heating up. I chose to stay in the apartment and just rest. Dale went up on the roof and took a dip in the pool . He wasn't gone very long. In Cambodia you can get cooked in the sun pretty fast. He said there were people under the canopied area near the pool but no one was sitting out directly in the sun. We stayed in our apartment the remainder of the day. It is just too hot and dusty to be outside for any length of time.

Sunday we attended Tuol Tom Pong Branch. It was fun to meet with some of the young people there. We had a few people help us understand what was being said. Today I did not know what the Relief Society lesson was so I was pretty much lost during class. It was OK. I asked to know what the lesson schedule was. I think I need to always take my Conference issue of the Ensign with me. Every once in awhile they take a lesson from there. I never really know when though. I will probably get this figured out in August. Then it will be time to go home.

I had a twinge of home sickness today while standing next to Kloth Chan Pisey, one of our PEF students. She was holding this really cute 4 month old baby girl. The baby reached for my hand and grasped onto my little finger. She had a good grip. I felt a little twinge of yearning to hug my kids and grand kids. I know that we are supposed to be here in Cambodia and we are grateful to be able to serve this mission. We are being blessed and we hope we are helping people here in Cambodia receive blessings also. Eighteen months really is a very short period of time to serve. I am grateful that we are able to do this. I am also grateful to know that we have family and friends to return home to in less than a year. It is all very good.

hack, Hack, HACK... Have a great week. "What the hack we will too."